#PickoftheWeek | Kupferberg Hosts Tribute to Aretha Franklin on Sunday
BY QEDC It's In Queens
This show is full of R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
Kupferberg Center for the Arts presents A Tribute to Aretha Franklin starring Damien Sneed, who used to tour with the first woman ever inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, on Sunday, March 20, at 3 pm.
Sneed might be heading to the Hall of Fame, too. He’s an arranger, arts educator, composer, conductor, organist, pianist, producer, and vocalist who has worked with Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Wynton Marsalis, and Jessy Norman, among others. (Add Manhattan School of Music faculty member, founder of Chorale Le Chateau, and former composer-in-residence at Houston Grand Opera.)
He’ll perform the homage with an accomplished band, R&B legend Valerie Simpson, who co-wrote such hits as “I’m Every Woman” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” as part of the Ashford & Simpson duo, and Gospel singer Karen Clark Sheard, who has four Grammys.
Ticket prices run from $30 to $50. The concert is scheduled for Queens College’s Colden Auditorium at 153-49 Reeves Ave. in Flushing. There are several parking lots in the area.
Known as the “Queen of Soul,” Franklin, who died on Aug. 16, 2018, had 18 Grammys, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and 112 chartered singles on Billboard. Over her six-decade career, she sold more than 75 million albums and produced songs which are modern day anthems. Her performance of “America the Beautiful” before Wrestlemania III in 1987 is legendary. She also sang “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” at President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009.
Images: Kupferberg Center for the Arts